Impact of Constrained Access to Primary Care on Health-Related Quality of Life

Timely access to healthcare has implications for health through early diagnosis and management of long-term conditions. However, when healthcare services are provided during traditional working hours, this limits workers' ability to attend appointments.

We used repeated cross-sectional data from full-time employees participating in the National General Practice Patient Survey in England between 2013 and 2017 (N = 1 097 156). We estimated the health-related quality of life effects (measured by EQ-5D-5L) of an individual being unable to take time away from work to attend primary care appointments. We used an instrumental variable approach to overcome endogeneity concerns around health and employment.

Jobs constraining primary care access led to significantly lower EQ-5D-5L utility scores (local average treatment effect = -0.101) (95% CI -0.153 to -0.044), representing an 11.4 percentage point decrease at the mean. The effects were concentrated on physical health domains of the EQ-5D-5L rather than mental health, and the effect on pain/discomfort was the largest in magnitude. The negative effect on the EQ-5D-5L utility score was larger in magnitude for individuals with long-term conditions than those without.

Improving access to primary care by reducing constraints on access during typical working hours could improve population health. Further investigation is needed of the effects of this access barrier for individuals with long-term conditions, and the cost-effectiveness of different policy approaches.